I hope everyone has been able to stay warm this chilly winter season! This week for Elder Shoemaker and I has been everything but normal. For starters transfers got cancelled so we had to postpone it too Wednesday because of the crazy weather! So from Monday-Wednesday we did a lot of final goodbyes with Elder Mata (as he has been in his area for 6 months and he was going to be transferred). When Wednesday came around we welcomed the new missionaries to our zone and helped them get their things to their new apartments and such! The best part about this transfer is the car that Elder Mata was in gets left in the area so Elder Shoemaker and I claimed it haha and we were told that we could keep it as long as we shared it with the other missionaries in our area! And we would rather have a car half of the time compared to none at all so it was awesome! So Elder Shoemaker and I were planning on keeping the car for the week until... I lost my card that I have to use to log in to the car so they can track where we go, how fast we drive and what not.. well me losing that card means we lose the car.. So we had to hand it over to the other Elders and wait for my new card to get here. We tried to find it but it was particularly slushy that night and then went below freezing temperatures.. so we believe it's under some sheet of ice somewhere.. But like I said it was a week that was anything and everything but normal! The following morning Elder Shoemaker got really really sick! We had to go to the doctor to get him checked out as he had a pretty nasty stomach virus! So we had to stay inside for two days, since he could barely walk or even talk! I can gladly say that by Saturday, whatever it was had passed. And we were able to continue our work!
As I sat in our apartment as Elder Shoemaker slept I had quite a bit of time to think to myself. As i listened to a lot of General Conference talks I was quite moved as I received a renewed testimony of what the Atonement means to me. Many people know and recognize that the Atonement is for those that fall short of keeping the commandments of God, and that if we don't use the Atonement we will find ourselves wishing we used it once we are standing before God at the time of judgment. We know however that the atonement is soo much more than that. We simply cannot forget that the Atonement is for improving and changing. When we look at our past we must look briefly to see how and where we must change. That change is possible through the Grace of the Savior's atoning sacrifice. I loved this Statement that Elder Holland makes in his talk "Remember Lot's Wife: Faith is for the future"
"Let people repent. Let people grow. Believe that people can change and improve. Is that faith? Yes! Is that hope? Yes! Is it charity? Yes! Above all, it is charity, the pure love of Christ. If something is buried in the past, leave it buried. Don’t keep going back with your little sand pail and beach shovel to dig it up, wave it around, and then throw it at someone, saying, “Hey! Do you remember this?” Splat!
Well, guess what? That is probably going to result in some ugly morsel being dug up out of your landfill with the reply, “Yeah, I remember it. Do you remember this?” Splat.
And soon enough everyone comes out of that exchange dirty and muddy and unhappy and hurt, when what God, our Father in Heaven, pleads for is cleanliness and kindness and happiness and healing."
I pray that we all excercise faith as we use this wonderful and glorious gift and allow it to change and improve our lives, as well as allow ourselves to believe and have faith that it can change others lives too. The sacrament truly becomes a wonderful, refreshing, renewing thing as we partake of it with a assurance that we did our part before hand to account for and plead for help and strength. It's not easy to endure to the end but if we take to the council found in the Doctrine Covenants: 123:17 "Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed."
I add my testimony to the atonement and its healing and curing power.
Keep Smiling .... Elder Gerrard
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